Hired a Gigolo, Got a Billionaire

Chapter 589 Gwen's POV Renee looked at Paula, then at Nick, then at me. Finally, her gaze landed on Bella, still hiding behind me. "I don't want to cause a scene," she said, lifting her hands in a gesture of surrender. "I really didn't come here to ruin her birthday. I just wanted to see my daughter. On her birthday. I thought that was my right." "Your right," Nick repeated, the word sharp and bitter. "You keep using that word like it still means something after four years of abandonment." "Nicholas," Renee said, her voice growing steadier now, more controlled. "You and I are going to talk.

Calmly. Like adults." She opened her expensive purse, pulled out a card, and held it out to him. "I'm staying here," she said, pointing to the hotel name printed on it. "Room twenty-three. Tomorrow. Anytime you want. But we are going to talk, Nick." Nick didn't take the card. He just stared at it as if it were contaminated. With a sigh, Renee set it down on the nearest table, beside the untouched cake. "If you don't show up," she continued, her voice hardening into steel, "I'll send my lawyers. And you I can afford very good lawyers, Nicholas.

The best." The threat hung in the air like poisonous smoke. know Then Renee turned away. Her heels dug into the dirt as she walked toward the car parked near the entrance. She didn't look back. She didn't say goodbye to Bella. She simply left, just as dramatically as she had arrived. The sound of her engine fading down the road was followed by a heavy, uncomfortable silence. Bella was still behind me, her small hands clutching my shirt. I could feel her trembling. I knelt down to her level and turned so I could see her face. She was pale, her eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears.

is," he said gently, taking Bella's tiny hand. "But you don't have to worry about that right now,

together." Nick went to get the children Martina had taken inside. They came back in a noisy

them out, she only closed her eyes briefly and blew. She didn't make a wish out loud. "Now let's cut the cake!" Martina announced cheerfully, appearing with a large knife. . But Bella shook her head. "I want to cut it," Bella said with determination. "The first slice. For Daddy and Gwen." Nick helped her hold the knife, his large hands guiding her small ones. Together, they cut a generous piece. Bella carefully placed it on a plate and held it out to us. "You two," she insisted. "Together." I looked at Nick. He looked

half endearing, we each took a bite from the same slice of cake. The children around us laughed and clapped as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Bella smiled. It wasn't her bright, carefree smile from earlier. But it

ran and shouted and laughed the way children always do. But something had changed. All the openness Nick had shown earlier. The way his fingers had intertwined with mine. The meaningful looks. How close he had stayed. How attentive and

up after four years. I understood that. I really did. But there was something else. Something that unsettled me in